[Closed] New chain - degrease or not?

Never bothered.

Will I die?

wet/dampen a rag with degreaser and wipe off the outside faces of the chain and then ride - that shit lasts for ages IME

I do degrease new chains too. Then a few drops of my favourite tipple:

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+1 never bother.

same as mr smith, can't be bothered, it's going get cleaned and re-lubed so many times anyway

Nope. Just use as it comes and as Scaredypants states, it lasts for ages.

I leave the grease on there 🙂

Degrease, only to re-grease? Nah, sounds like too much effort.

What is this new chain thing you speak of?

Take off their specially selected/made grease lubricant...why? 😯

Most brands used to use a heavy packing grease that was very tacky and an absolute dirt magnet. It's more of a preservative for the metal than a lubricant. Some manufacturers have moved away from that type of grease to a lighter lube that you can use out of the package (Shimano moved to this lighter lubricant if I remember correctly, SRAM has not).

I use SRAM. Doesn't get as dirty as when I used to use lube TBH.

Wd40 on a rag, wipe off most of the sticky crud. Lube. Ride.

Always ' degrease' and ' Oil' afterwards. Its an anti rust protector , not a lube.

The sticky-as-**** KMC packing grease can be a terrible dirt magnet, I destroyed a brand new X9SL in about 30 minutes of pentlands riding. Getting mud stuck to it would have been annoying, getting little sticks stuck to it was pretty bad.

They warranty replaced it and I never made that mistake again, always clean them off first. I reckon it's anti-corrosion storage grease rather than actual chain lube- if it's chain lube then it's the worst I've ever used.

Get rid of it, it's for protection in storage, it's sticky as f88k - you might just as well put cutting compound on your chain.

I personally would de-grease, that grease is far to sticky and collects crap really quickly, then the chain rings and sprockets get gunk on them too. Drop it in some white spirit.

wipe and fit. It'll degrease itself after a few wet rides anyway.

Most brands used to use a heavy packing grease that was very tacky and an absolute dirt magnet. It's more of a preservative for the metal than a lubricant.

Really? Do you have a definite source for that gem of info?

Get rid of it, it's for protection in storage,

Really? Do you have a definite source for that gem of info?

Most brands used to use a heavy packing grease that was very tacky and an absolute dirt magnet. It's more of a preservative for the metal than a lubricant. Some manufacturers have moved away from that type of grease to a lighter lube that you can use out of the package (Shimano moved to this lighter lubricant if I remember correctly, SRAM has not).

SRAM Factory Lubricant: GLEITMO™ — biking's best chain lubricant — coats chain for superior protection against friction and dirt.

I often wonder how on earth people manage to wonder through life avoiding bumping into any facts or knowledge.

I was told to do it by one of the shimano mechanics at mayhem about ten years back. I didn't know better then and I always have since. I'm still not sure if it's right though.

Hi TuckerUK - Yes 30 years' experience of riding bikes - and some writing about them too, plus some simple observation skills. Take the chain out of the pack, observe how much crap gets stuck to it. Observe a different chain, with a purpose-made chain lube on it, much less crap sticks.

As far as my experience goes, it seems fairly normal to pack ferrous parts in some kind of protective coating, sometimes sticky grease, sometimes a thinner oil.

HTH 🙂

I've just taken a brand-new PC991 out of its packet and dropped it on my bedroom carpet... it now has dog hairs and grit stuck to it (note to self: vacuum bedroom carpet more often).

*wonders if she has just "bumped into a fact"*

I wish they sold the stuff the Shimano chains come coated in.

I use sram chains but i wipe down the outer links with a rag soaked in GT85 first to remove the excessive surface lube whilst keeping the essential lube contained within the chain rollers. I wipe them down after every ride and lube as necessary with muc-off nano strawberry pink lube, usually remove chain every couple of weeks and soak in my degreaser and fit a clean chain that i removed/soaked and lubed previously.

SRAM Factory Lubricant: GLEITMO™ — biking's best chain lubricant — coats chain for superior protection against friction and dirt.I often wonder how on earth people manage to wonder through life avoiding bumping into any facts or knowledge.

I bow to your superior knowledge. I read it on another forum, probably the same as you did. I still prefer to lube a new chain myself. At least i know it done right then.

And i think you mean 'wander through life'.

And just in case anyone thinks SRAM probably don't know what they are talking about:

From the late great Sheldon Brown

'[b]Factory Lube[/b]
New chains come pre-lubricated with a grease-type lubricant which has been installed at the factory. This is an excellent lubricant, and has been made to permeate all of the internal interstices in the chain.

This factory lube is superior to any lube that you can apply after the fact.

Some people make the bad mistake of deliberately removing this superior lubricant. Don't do this!

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions. It is best not to apply any sort of lube to a new chain until it is clearly needed, because any wet lube you can apply will dilute the factory lube.'

[url= http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html ]From This Page[/url]

I read it on another forum, probably the same as you did.

No. I read it on my SRAM chain box.

With rare exceptions, I don't actually get my education or knowledge from forums. And on those rare occasions when I do learn something new from an unknown source, I double, triple, and quadruple check if for validity before repeating it as fact.

I've just taken a brand-new PC991 out of its packet and dropped it on my bedroom carpet... it now has dog hairs and grit stuck to it (note to self: vacuum bedroom carpet more often).

Which has what exactly do with the lubrication properties? Dog hairs stick to metal coated with my cars engine oil, is it not a good lubricant then?

Yes 30 years' experience of riding bikes

Ah, I see the problem. I have 42.

if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions.

there you have it then.....

FWIW, I usually remove and relube. On my new bike I didn't and approx 100 road miles later I had a hell of a job cleaning up a salty, gritty, greasy, noisy, sticky mess of a chain.

You do what you want though......

TuckerUK - Member

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions.

Yep, because we never ride in the wet.

Still, I agree that anyone who places their own personal experience above SRAM marketing must be mad.

I personally found that my drive train felt/sounded gritty and horrid with that factory lube.

Not talking about lubrication properties, I'm talking about the fact that the sticky goo my chains come coated in attracts grit. This makes grinding paste. If you want to do that to your chain, that is up to you, I don't mind what you do.

I don't know how to type this without sounding confrontational so I'll just type it anyway: do you believe all the marketing hype that you read?

fuds.

people here actually ride their bikes?

Get the best of both worlds...

As a number of people have already mentioned above, wipe clean the outside surface of the chain with a solvent to remove the sticky surface that grit adheres to, but leave the factory lube inside the bearings to do its job.

By the way, Gleitmo isn't SRAM marketing hype, its a German made high quality industrial lubricant - try Googling it and you'll get this description, "Lifetime lubrication of machine elements at medium and high pressure (sliding bearings, slide rails etc.) where dry lubrication and good corrosion protection are required."

However, my feeling is that its designed for industrial applications where the components aren't exposed to dust and grit which [i]will[/i] stick to it. So when used in a bicycle application its best to remove the exposed outer coating first.

I'd like to see the chain manufacturers justify their chain lube assertions. I don't see them offering their chains lubed for different conditions, it appears to be one lube fits all. This doesn't seem realistic even with road bikes, let alone mountain bikes.

I'd suggest there's reasons why chain lube manufacturers don't make lube like the chain manufacturers, but there could well be vested interests on both sides relating to selling you more lube or more transmission parts.

I find when you soak a new SRAM chain in degreaser that you still have to rub the last of the lube off the outer faces, so there's probably still some left where it's really needed internally. It's dusty most of the year here so I would only use a dry lube oiling each roller.

If your transmission soon gets covered in dried on mud it doesn't matter because the lube and gunk will come off with the mud.

sometimes I think people worry too much or read too much into stuff.

I'd suggest there's reasons why chain lube manufacturers don't make lube like the chain manufacturers, but there could well be vested interests on both sides relating to selling you more lube or more transmission parts.

It's partly about application methods. Gleitmo is only available in industrial quantities, and has to be hot dipped to penetrate into the internals of the chain. SRAM do this in their factory, but there's very few of us who would bother to do that at home, or can afford to throw away the remaining bucket full of very expensive chian lube after dipping our one chain. Much easier to give it a squirt from a little bottle while turning the cranks!

But I also agree with with your suggestion that after market chain lube is becoming a bit of a racket. Gone are the days when we carefully applied a single drop of the precious nectar to each chain link. With the new chain lubes we're urged to to flush the dirt away with a stream of the stuff - at how much a bottle!?!

So, who's peddling the marketing 'hype' here? The chain manufacturers who provide your chain ready lubed with a high quality and expensive industrial chain lubricant, and suggest that for long service life of their product you leave it on for as long as you can. Or the aftermarket chain lubes and the bike shops that sell them, who tell us its just a storage protectant, to wash it off as soon as possible, and flood the chain with their inferior lubricant at every opportunity possible?

sometimes I think people worry too much or read too much into stuff.

Too true!

But it's human nature, and we've given it a name - displacement activity.

I read the cancer thread just now and was so shocked that rather than booking a checkup with my doctor like I should have done, I wrote a half page epic on chain lube instead! 😆

So, who's peddling the marketing 'hype' here? The chain manufacturers who provide your chain ready lubed with a high quality and expensive industrial chain lubricant, and suggest that for long service life of their product you leave it on for as long as you can. Or the aftermarket chain lubes and the bike shops that sell them, who tell us its just a storage protectant, to wash it off as soon as possible, and flood the chain with their inferior lubricant at every opportunity possible?

I'm either missing all the hype or it's mostly coming form people on forums agonising for hours about what sort of lube and how to clean this and that.

Ah, but then we get into one of the classic circular arguments so beloved of forums like these. It goes something like this...

By posting on a thread that you feel sorry for all the poor suckers who've nothing better to do than endlessly debate (insert topic of your choice here), rather than doing (insert activity of your choice here) which is much more worthwhile, and so positioning yourself as being above their sorry state; you have unwittingly shown yourself as equally sad and misguided as said deadbeats, to be spending your time on the very same thread lambasting them for their harmless myopia, rather than doing aforementioned much more worthwhile activity yourself.

You then riposte that by me spending my time typing this ... etc etc ... and on it goes. You get the idea 😆

i'd probably better go squirt some chain lube on my bike then or something.

I still genuinely think that people removing their chain to clean it every ride is some huge in joke that I don't know about or innuendo for something rather strange.

[i]filthy biker 1[/i] "Do you dip your's in diesel or petrol?"
[i]filthy biker 2[/i] "Diesel mate"
[i]filthy biker 1[/i] "Nice one round the back of Nat West for the ride of your life then?"
[i]filthy biker 2[/i] "Not half - be there in 20!"

Ok, I'll come clean (oh! the ironing)- you've shamed me into it. As my riding buddies would tell you, I [i]am[/i] anally retentive about my chain cleanliness - and proud of it!

I put turning up for a ride with a squeaky clean chain somewhere up there with it being spotlessly clean under my foreskin - or at least I would if I had one 😯

And, yes I know that by having the words anally, foreskin, lube, and bicycle chain all in the same post, I've opened up a whole world of inuendo 😆

I'm not worried, I'm just interested. Isn't that why we read and post on forums? And actually I learnt that the compromise solution makes the most sense to me now that I'm not assuming it's packing grease.

I only asked because I wasn't sure I could be arsed to degrease and relube a new chain before tonights ride. The irony being, that a/ reading this interesting thread has taken longer than the job and I'm still not much wiser whether I should or not, and b/ when I went out to the garage the bikes developed a case of seized jockeywheel-itis anyway, so the singlespeed's being dragged out instead. And we know the chain maintenance routine for that.......

I wondered similar a while back and found this intervew on bikerukour.com

Taken from this page http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/06/28/chainwear-challenge-quick-interview-with-shimano/

I took the opportunity to ask one of Shimano’s main tech gurus, Nick Murdick

BikeRumor: What is Shimano’s official stance on the chain lube that comes stock on a shimano chain? Is it actually a lube, or a grease? And is it best to leave it on until the chain gets noisy and relube, or strip it right away and relube before riding?

Nick: So that brings us to lubrication. I mentioned that the chain wears because of friction as the chain moves to wrap around a gear. Well, that friction is reduced if there is lube on the chain. If there is dirt mixed in, the lube makes a bigger difference in reducing friction. If there is water mixed in, the lube helps displace the water. The grease that comes on a Shimano chain is applied at the factory to the individual pieces before the chain is assembled. The grease does a better job of reducing friction than aftermarket chain lubes and it lasts longer. The main reason we use liquid chain lube, whether it is one that stays liquid or a dry lube that has a solid lubricant in a liquid carrier (like a PTFE lube) is because we need to get the lube on a part that is not accessible without disassembling the chain. So the best thing to do when installing a new chain is to leave the factory grease on, not apply any other lube, ride until it wears out and then start applying liquid chain lube. In dusty conditions you can wipe off the outside of the new chain with a rag that is wet with a gentle degreaser to keep dirt from sticking to the grease. The factory grease also keeps the chain nice and quiet. After soaking a chain in degreaser and then lubing the chain with liquid lubricant the chain gets noticeably louder.

Shimano does not have an official recommended chain lube. They all seem to work pretty good. Different people have different preferences and different conditions require different lubes.

So there you have it. You absolutely should leave the original chain grease in place for best performance, and there are differences in construction that were necessary to make up for the narrower 10 speed chain. So far, those differences seem to be working as the 10 speed groups are still slightly better as far as wear, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the end!#